Forgive, Never Forget
by paracuties
Summary: Hello…well, whoever found this: I'm leaving. I'm leaving the village, and you can't stop me-I guess what I'm trying to say is: Bye. In the end it seems I put my trust into everybody's hands too easily. Don't try to find me. …let's just say, I'll kill you before it gets that far. I hope I never see any of you again. -Uzumaki Naruto AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, guys, it's paracuties. First time writing a Naruto fanfiction; please point out if fights or situations sound totally stupid, or if they're acting a little (or a lot) OOC, and please DO NOT point out that this is a totally overused, boring idea. I know. But it's written by me, and I'm pretty sure that there's no other story that sounds like this one. Besides, there's a plot twist at the end—if I ever finish this story, that is. **

**Also—I am really behind on Shippuden. Like, really behind. And I have not read the manga. Well, maybe that very tiny part in the beginning, but so far, in the manga, I have not even met Konohamaru yet. So. A lot of the facts and stuff I know about Akatsuki, Madara, etc. is from fanfictions I have read. So let me know if something's wrong. But ALSO keep in mind that this IS an AU. There will be certain changes; certain differences that I need to have to allow my story to work. **

**Anyway, no flames, and enjoy.**

* * *

Naruto growled angrily. He knew both he and Sasuke were running low on chakra, and they were both panting heavily, obviously tired. But he also knew he had to bring Sasuke back, no matter what.

"Come on, you coward! Bring it on!" he yelled, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. With his Sharingan, it was difficult to catch Sasuke off guard, and instead Naruto could only try to dodge all his hits. Unfortunately, Sasuke caught his chin, and he was propelled backward, crashing painfully into the rocky surface next to the lake. Arms and legs shaking with the effort, his muscles protesting against the harsh treatment, he pulled himself up again, and clenched his teeth. He'd have to use the Rasengan. A dark, lavender tinted Rasengan tainted with demonic power started bubbling in his outstretched hand, his left hand already shaking and being affected by the Kyuubi's power. Sasuke's Chidori formed too, turning a strange, dark and evil color, appearing even darker than black, which fit his new form that he somehow transformed into—using the bruise that had appeared on his neck after the second Chuunin exam. But then something happened. As their two powerful orbs met, both arms straining as their arm and shoulder muscles burned, trying to hold the gathering of chakra still and aim it at their target, the almost unbearable amount of Chakra seemed to explode, and then it was kind of quiet inside after a bit of a tussle between him and Sasuke. It could be described as silent, but it was as noisy as…well, a Chidori. It could be described as peaceful, but the tension was overwhelming. Time seemed to pause right then and there, and there was a small, very small feeling of understanding and calm, before the whole world seemed to just consist of pale, dreamy colors, the colors of childhood for most children.

After a moment however, time sped up again, and he was lying next to Sasuke on the rocky, slick ground, raindrops splattering on his face. He blinked, then sat up slowly, with his Rasengan still in his hand for some reason, although as he leaned over Sasuke to check if he was unconscious, he let the Rasengan die out. There was a noise next to them, and all of a sudden Kakashi-sensei was standing there, staring at Naruto with a strange look in his eyes, as if he thought Naruto was going to actually harm Sasuke with evil intentions.

"Oh! Kakashi-sensei! Uh, look, I saved Sasuke!" He smiled a little nervously, scratching his head, wondering why Kakashi-sensei kept on staring at him like that. "Oh!" He pulled himself off of the ground with a little difficulty, and stopped standing next to Sasuke so closely to show that he obviously wasn't going to harm him. But Kakashi-sensei just kept on looking at him.

"Naruto…can you come with me?" He scooped up Sasuke and put him on his back, Sasuke's arms slung over his shoulders, then jumped into the forest and sped off. Naruto stood there in confusion, then followed as best as he could, fall out of the trees a couple of times, and almost fainting from exhaustion while trying to keep up with him. The medical shinobi appeared, and one put Naruto on his back, where he promptly fell asleep, although not before hearing Kakashi-sensei say quietly, "I saw Naruto leaning over Sasuke with the Rasengan in his hand. I wasn't sure if, well…" The world went dark after that.

* * *

"_Naruto, please…please bring Sasuke back. I couldn't stop him." "Sasuke!"_

I wake up in cold sweat. "Sasuke!" I try to yell. Key word being "try". All that comes out is a slight rasp, and I instead choose to look around my surroundings. I'm in a fluffy, clean bed, not at all creaky and hard, and next to it is a window with the curtains closed. My apartment only has one small, grungy window that keeps getting stuck every time I try to open it. The walls are white, with not one bit of paint peeling or damaged from small holes made by rats. I recognize this. It's the hospital. What?

And this time I yell, "SASUKE!" because I've realized that I managed to stop him. There's something more foreboding and dark swimming around in the back of my mind, but I choose to ignore it for now in favor of this miraculous event. I stumble out of bed, gripping the IV pole tightly, and wander out of the room, looking for Sasuke's. He happens to be in the room across from mine as I peer into the window, and I burst the door open and run to his side before I can stop myself. The people currently inside halt their conversation, and I grin brightly, saying, "Sasuke's alive! See? I saved him!"

"_What are you talking about?! _Kakashi-sensei told me...," the pink-haired kunoichi chokes off, staring first at me, then at the man next to me. Suddenly, she lunges across the bed and grabs the front of my shirt, hissing, "I can't believe you would do such a thing!"

After seeming to think for a moment though, her eyes narrow and she whispers, "No…I can believe it. You've always had a grudge against Sasuke…you _would _try to kill him."

I turn, staring wide-eyed first at her and then at the silver-haired jounin next to me, and then remember. The memory hits me such force that I can only blink at him in shock, wondering again why he would suspect me of _trying to kill_ Sasuke. _Why _would I ever do such a thing?!

"Kakashi-sensei…why…what did I ever do to make you think that?"

He sighs, and says in a clear voice, "I wasn't sure. You can never trust anybody so completely that you can't ever think of them as a suspect in the ninja world. Ninjas are full of secrets and dark, scary things, and…I always thought you a little strange. I know you—well, live in that place, grew up in that place, yet you always give off such a happy persona, and I was afraid there might be…something else behind all of that." He looks a little sad, yet still holds true to his word.

I know what he's talking about. I grew up and lived in the red light district, barely able to scrounge off the few scraps I could steal. Yes, Konoha had a red light district. It wasn't a perfect, happy little place. I wonder bitterly why I had even bothered to try to trust them. Even if my mind screamed at me to never trust these people, my heart told me to give them the benefit of the doubt. And look where that had gotten me. All the bitterness I had felt throughout my life building up but stubbornly pushed away swelled up then, and I make a decision I had contemplated for years before "friends" had come into the picture.

I'd leave. I'd leave and never trust anyone ever again, and become so powerful they would be forced to cower before me and I would earn the respect of all the powerful shinobi. Without another word, I storm out of the room, ripping out the needle dripping foreign substances into my body.

As I run out the hospital doors however, I slow down and begin to regret my rash decision. It was only a mistake, a mistake that could easily be fixed. But as I'm heading down the street, I can hear whispers coming from little clumps of people standing and gossiping on the side of the street.

"I heard…killed Sasuke…no, _tried_ to kill the Uchiha boy…" "Is he a murderer?" "It's obviously expected…fox-brat…" And the rumors went on. News apparently travelled very fast. Even my so-called friends…Shikamaru and Ino walk past me, heading towards the hospital to visit Choji, giving me wary looks. I want to scream at them, scream and shout and tell them the truth, but they have already left, leaving me alone on the street with my shaking hands. And now, two ANBU guards appear at my side.

"You're being called to the Hokage's office," they say monotonously, then grab my arms and shun-shin to our destination.

Tsunade-sama is sitting at her desk with her hands folded underneath her chin, as usual. "Naruto…I have heard from Kakashi…did you try to kill Sasuke Uchiha?"

I shake my head vehemently. "No! It's all a mistake! You-you don't actually believe him, right?!"

"He said you were holding a Rasengan while leaning over Sasuke, but when he arrived, you immediately backed up and laughed nervously, which he found a little suspicious."

"That's…well, that is true, but—"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but the council has outvoted me for the time being. You are on probation now, and you are not allowed to have any more missions or do anything shinobi-related until the final decision is made. I'm truly sorry, I'll try my best to fix this, so don't be too upset right now."

Tsunade obaa-chan has a sad and desperate look in her eyes, but I don't notice it past my surprise and fear.

Yeah right. This was all just spiraling downhill, and I knew the decision would be made to either execute me, getting rid of me forever, throw me out, so I won't be such a threat, or somehow cripple me enough to force me to stop being a ninja, and stop being such a threat. I couldn't believe this. She was like an older sister, or possibly even mother, to me. I thought she thought the same. My impulsive decision apparently was right. I had to leave. I excused myself, and then shuffled out the door. Some part of me kept hanging on to the hope that this whole situation would just end up being a nightmare though, and I kept hoping, hoping, hoping, for days, and then two weeks went by like this, until I couldn't hold out any longer. Nobody would listen. Nobody would care. And so my decision was set in stone.

At my apartment, I packed my meager belongings into scrolls, trying to bring as much as I could of my shinobi equipment. Once I was packed, I set the old backpack next to the bed, took out that crystal necklace Tsunade obaa-chan—no, not obaa-chan anymore—had given to me, and then proceeded to write a letter:

_Hello…well, whoever found this: _

_I'm leaving. I'm leaving the village, and you can't stop me. Nobody can, and nobody will. I'm going to become such a feared shinobi that you will finally have a good reason to hate me—people hating me because I'm the container for the Kyuubi are stupid. There should be a valid reason. Anyway…well, I'm not sure why I'm writing this letter, but… I guess what I'm trying to say is: Bye. Thanks, I guess, but in the end it seems I put my trust into everybody's hands too easily. Yes, I probably should've known better, growing up in the red light district and everything, but…well, I wanted to try and keep hoping for something, though I guess that totally failed. And also, you're welcome. I'm sure nobody wants me, the _demon, _hanging around. I'm doing you all a favor._

_Don't try to find me. I'll just escape again and again, and if you put me in jail…let's just say, I'll kill you before it gets that far. I hope I'll never see any of you again. _

_-Uzumaki Naruto_

At midnight—at least it seems to be around midnight, the sky's as dark as it could possibly be—I grab my pack, swing it onto my shoulders, and after giving one last glance to my old, dumpy apartment, I climb out the window and into a couple of bushes two stories down.

"Youch!" I hiss, barely able to keep myself from yelling out loud. The bushes here are _really _thorny, but at least I heal fast. I pull them out after maneuvering my way out of the bushes, and continue on my way. I'm not exactly sure how to get past the guards, really, but I examined it enough during the daytime that I can see the whole layout of the wall and guard positions in my mind. The top of the walls are filled with spear tips and other dangerous wires, although if I could jump high enough over them I wouldn't have trouble with that. Unfortunately, that option is out of the question, as I can't let the guards see me, and jumping straight into the open air would definitely guarantee that. The walls are constantly checked for cracks or weak points, so I know I wouldn't be able to find one of those and get out quick enough. There are ways to move around underground, but I don't know those jutsu. Unfortunately. The main entrance is kind of my only option, but…wait. If I put a henge, would they realize it? I didn't think so, because after Uchiha Sasuke was taken back after even a prodigy like _him_ tried to escape, well…there wasn't that big of a chance for an idiot like me. But I would be able to do it. I know I would, and I would be able to get farther than he had because he had been trapped inside that container for a while, being carried by one of those weirdoes; one of Orochimaru's pets. So I decide that I should at least give that a try.

Adjusting the straps on my pack to secure them, well, securely on my back, I put my hands in the right symbol, and there's a slight puff of cloud and a popping sound as I turn into one of those merchants always travelling back and forth trading precious materials. Then, stepping onto the main road, I walk a short ways before I'm in view of the main entrance. The guards look at me curiously, but I nod to them as if I am just a regular merchant, passing through so I can deliver the goods on time. They nod back, and return to their posts. After ambling along for almost half an hour, I am finally positive they are not following me, and take to the trees after that. As I'm weaving through the dense forest, I take care not to slip on the slick branches, the storm drenching me and the leaves providing me little-to-no cover at all, but at least it'll cover my tracks. I smirk. I look totally different. I am dressed in black, which can blend in well with my surroundings. I'm not the happy-go-lucky Uzumaki Naruto anymore…I am Kamikaze Kokuei, a mere silhouette, a dark shadow that lurks in the back of people's minds…

* * *

It's hard to live while travelling. But I've grown accustomed to travelling, so by the time I reach the Village Hidden in the Mist, I'm only slightly worn out, mostly from thirst. It doesn't take too long for the boat to go across the short span of ocean; the hard part was getting people to allow me to do that. They didn't especially want to rent out a boat to the likes of me; a little kid, and the "demon brat". But I paid them with almost all the money I had earned from missions, so…the boat should have arrived back in its original port by now. The one person whom travelled along with me was very efficient with the winds and all kinds of stuff to do with travelling on moving bodies of water.

The guards at the front entrance of Village Hidden in the Mist look at me, and then ask, "What is your business?"

I answer evenly, "I'd like to become a citizen of this village." I'm unsure if they'll just let me in like that, but then one nods and takes me by the arm, leading me to the Mizukage.

Once inside his office, I glance around curiously, noticing that it's very differently designed from Konoha. The buildings are much shorter, flatter to the ground; the only building having much of a height at all is the building I am currently inside, where I can look out the large window facing the village. "Hello, Naruto, what can I help you with?"

Then, the Mizukage says, seeing my startled expression, "The Land of Waves has been a good place for the Land of Water to…well, gain a lot. We know who you are, Naruto. You helped Tazuna finish the bridge that could connect that little Land of Waves to the whole world. The bridge is named after you!"

"Uh…well, actually, my name is Kamikaze Kokuei. I'm not Naruto."

The sudden revelation allows me to catch a glimpse of blank surprise on the Mizukage's face before he smoothes out his expression and continues evenly, "Oh, I'm sorry, you resemble someone I know. Very much, in fact. In that case, what is your business here?"

"I'd like to apply for citizenship. And still continue my job as a ninja, of course."

"Hmm. And why is that?"

"I…I've always wandered around my whole life, and I've watched ninja do many techniques…I think I'm qualified to be a ninja. I can show you my skills, if you like."

"Yes, but I must make sure I have your loyalty. How do I know you're not a spy?"

"I am not hiding anything. Do I seem suspicious? If it makes you feel better though, I'll let you have ANBU or whoever you trust the most watch me until you consider me trustworthy. That could be a week, or five years, I don't care. As long as you grant me citizenship and let me continue as a ninja, I am satisfied."

"Well…that certainly does work, but why would you be that important? Why would I bother wasting my ANBU on a young child to watch if they're a spy or not, when I could just kick you out and save myself the trouble?"

I pause. He has a point there. "But…well, you should know that I'm very strong. I can do a lot, whatever you want me to, as long as, as I said, my career as a shinobi continues. Please, I have nowhere else to go."

He stares at me with an eyebrow raised, then calmly says, "Alright then, we could always use an extra hand with the requests handed in…come here, Kamikaze Kokuei."

I sit obediently in the chair across the desk from him, and wait as he writes out a bunch of stuff, stamps it, and then hands it to me, telling me to go to another office and get my picture taken, so I can get an ID. After that, I'm supposed to go to the training arena where they can evaluate my skills. I do all of that, and finally, finally, I am allowed to have my own free time before I will be assigned to a jounin teacher tomorrow morning. I decide to get familiar with my surroundings. Wandering around the shops, I feel very satisfied and accomplished, and more relaxed than I have ever been. Nobody stares at me and whispers, "demon", "monster", or any of those words, and I'm treated as a normal customer. Fortunately, there is a ramen stand, although it is nowhere near as good as Ichiraku's Ramen. I miss them. They're one of the few people I will miss, because I know they won't believe such a thing as me trying to murder Sasuke. However, I don't know about the rest of my teammates. If Sakura believed such a thing…she was on Team 7. She and Sasuke were closer than any of the other classmates I had back in the Academy days. If she believed such a thing, why would someone who did not know me at all, besides as the Academy Naruto, believe I wasn't a murderer?

I go through a couple more bowls before I'm satisfied, pay them, and go look for a hotel to stay in for the night. I'll get an apartment tomorrow.

* * *

**So. How was that? I wrote it a while ago, but I just made a couple slight changes. Again, no flames, and leave a review. It keeps me interested, excited, happy, motivated, you name it. All those positive emotions. **

**However, not accepting flames doesn't mean I don't accept constructive criticism. I would LOVE that. It'd really help. And, you know, point out any grammar mistakes I make. I tend to do that.**

**I'm going to stop blathering away now…**

**~paracuties**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again, everybody. I'm kind of disappointed…I didn't get a single review for this story. Just favorites and follows—which I love, of course, I'm glad people are at least doing that; I'm not going to say that that's a bad thing—but…it's still kind of disappointing to not get a review. But I guess the last chapter wasn't so great, either. And the summary, for that matter. The summary kind of sucks. I'll change that later…**

**I don't remember if I did a disclaimer last time. I hope I did…but if I didn't, here it is:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (the anime), Naruto Shippuden, Naruto (the manga), or anything related to Naruto. I'm just borrowing the characters. :'(**

* * *

Yawning hugely, I wake up at the crack of dawn. After acquiring the hotel room, I had nothing else to do, so after days of travelling, I just decided to succumb to the fatigue and fell asleep at six pm. Today, I'm supposed to go to the Ho—er, _Mizu_kage's office again, where one of the jounin teachers will be waiting. I will train alone with him/her until the Academy—much like the Academy in Konoha—has new Genin available. The amount of members on a team depends on how many students have passed—and I have heard that the shinobi in other elemental countries are not as good as the shinobi in Fire Country, meaning the students didn't have as good teachers, and resulting in not as many students passing.

I slowly shuffle through my morning routine, then jump quietly from building to building and reach the building in no time.

"The Mizukage is not in at the moment," one of the nightshift guards says in a monotone, so I sigh and take to wandering the streets. I amble along, although inside I am impatiently waiting for the time when I can learn water jutsu. It seems very helpful, because no matter where I am, I will be able to get water, and use the water to protect myself or attack my opponent. Even if I'm in the desert, there will be water reservoirs deep in the ground, and if I am strong enough, I will be able to pull the water out quickly and easily.

I feel a bit lonely as I continue my walk, although it's really nothing new—I shouldn't have become so relaxed in the presence of those Konoha back-stabbing traitors—and exploring the landscape a bit more before reaching a beach, scattering the birds that were pecking incessantly at the sand for who-knows-what just moments before. They settle farther down the beach, and I am motivated to play a game of tag with one of them, using shadow clones to help me. I can't help it, I'm bored, and this makes me think of when I was a little kid barely scraping together the means to live in Konoha's red light district, playing with rats in my apartment, until one of them bit me and I screamed, the prostitute who lived next door came barging in to yell and slap me a couple times before the man she was…with, came up behind her, naked, and pulled her away again to continue their interrupted…session. I was only three at the time, and growing up like that, I thought it was normal. I also thought picking pockets was normal, and by the time I was five, I was an expert. I commonly picked the pockets of even jounin shinobi, as they tended to have the most money, and they never noticed a thing. I was so good at it that I thought I was unstoppable—that is, until I tried picking the pocket of one certain jounin—Hatake Kakashi. He gripped my wrist so tightly; I thought it was going to break, and I whimpered, afraid. He seemed a little surprised that a little kid like me would try such a thing, but when I whispered, "I'm sorry, can I have some money?" he frowned, then led me over to a bench and commanded me to sit. It was quite an interrogation session, and by the end of it, I had found out many new things—stealing was not good, and Ichiraku's Ramen was inexpensive and tasty. They didn't kick me out, which was really quite surprising, although I thought it was because a ninja had brought me in. But they didn't kick me out when I came in alone either, so I soon began eating there regularly. When I saw Kakashi-sensei the next time, it was when he was to be my jounin sensei, but I didn't recognize him at the time. I only put two-and-two together afterwards, when I saw the same look in his eyes I had seen when I tried to pick his pocket—at the Valley of the End; the dangerous and wary look of an experienced killer.

Because of this whole thinking process, I unfortunately let the birds escape, and I realize with a start the sun has risen quite a bit. It's time to go see my new jounin sensei.

* * *

"Hello, Mizukage-sama," I bow formally, then straighten up, surveying the room until my eyes land on the man standing nearby.

"Kokuei, this is your sensei from now on, Katashi-sensei." For a moment, I think he has said Kakashi-sensei. But then I realize, no, Katashi means firm and strong. Kakashi means scarecrow. Totally opposite. I look Katashi-sensei over, and my head reels at seeing how similarly he dresses to Kakashi-sensei—no, _Kakashi,_ he's not my sensei anymore—but I do see differences, and I wonder when I'll stop comparing people from Konoha to people from this village.

"Hello, Katashi-sensei, I am Kamikaze Kokuei," I bow to him, and he looks me over, taking in my scrawny form. Then after a moment, the Mizukage dismisses us, and we leave together, where he then hands me the headband for the Village Hidden in the Mist. I strap it on, knowing this symbolizes I am not a Konoha shinobi anymore. It strengthens my resolve to become stronger. Throughout the day, he teaches me many new water jutsu, like water clones and manipulating the water to form something. He is surprised at how much stamina I have, but that only makes him push me even harder, so by the end of the day I am exhausted. The next few days, weeks, months pass by like this; somewhere in there I have found an inexpensive apartment that is near Training Ground 2. That is where Katashi-sensei takes me most of the time to train. Before I know it, it is time to travel to the Academy to find me a group. I have gotten used to working independently, and I am wary that the performance of the new Genin will hinder my training. Katashi-sensei seems to read my mind and assures me that the Academy puts their students through a very difficult test, and they will be close to my level. Only because I am not of Water Country origin, though, and they focus much more on kenjutsu, which is sword-fighting. I have been training with it for two months now; almost every day I have spent hours trying to master the strange feeling of wielding a sword.

We arrive at the classroom, and I step in behind my sensei, noticing that there is only one group left. It reminds me again of when Sasuke, Sakura and I all were waiting for our jounin sensei to arrive. I shake off the nostalgia, and scrutinize the future members of our team, Team 9. They are also looking at me curiously, probably wondering why there is a strange person following their sensei.

"Hello, Hokuto, Emori, and Reika. I am your new sensei, Katashi-sensei." At least their names don't resemble Sakura's or Sasuke's. It would be a little too much of a coincidence if that had happened.

"Who's that?" the brown-haired, green-eyed girl points at me, and Katashi-sensei tells them I am also their teammate, Kokuei. He tells them I had only recently become a citizen of Village Hidden in the Mist, so I hadn't gone to the Academy, learning my skills from elsewhere.

Emori fixated his dark eyes on me, his just-as-dark hair sweeping over his forehead. At least I assumed he was Emori, anyway. They were seated in a row, and Katashi-sensei seemed to have looked at each of them as he said their name. Sure enough, the other boy, with bright blue eyes and red-brown hair introduces himself as Hokuto a moment later. And sure enough, they remind me of my old Team 7. Emori seems like Sasuke, dark and calculating, and Hokuto is me. He grins a lot, just like I had before. I don't do a lot of grinning nowadays. Then Reika seems a lot like Sakura, if I was to go on the fact that she was making doe-eyes at Emori. After introducing themselves, we leave the classroom, and immediately start on training.

Although I come to accept them, I always keep a distance, afraid I might become too attached and end up just like I had before. We train and train, and for once I actually beat someone at kenjutsu, although it is only Reika. She, like Sakura, is not very good with all the physical work, and had mainly depended on her brains to pass. We don't have as many missions as I had had in Konoha, but that was only because this country was surrounded by water, and of course Fire Country was the biggest and strongest. I don't know why I have travelled to this country, of all places. But it seemed like the only place to escape at the time.

I am jerked out of my train of thought when Emori lands a kick on me, causing me to skid backwards onto the water. We are training on the water, to better ourselves with the whole water thing. I, unfortunately, cannot get very far with the water manipulation techniques, so I think my affinity is something else. I concentrate on the fight, focusing on his weak spots and landing swift hits to him most of the time. He gives almost just as much damage though, and I am surprised, again, to see how a recently new Genin can be so talented. I must train harder. With this thought in mind, I charge at him again, feinting at the right, then jumping in the air and letting my foot catch him on the left side, pushing as hard as I can. He grabs my ankle, but I pull on both of his ankles, and his hand loosens, letting go of me in order to try and catch his balance. I still continue yanking his feet out from under him, and fling him away, where he lands smoothly, again, on the surface of the water. We continue like this until Katashi-sensei tells us to stop and take a rest.

* * *

Pushing my katana straight into the dummy, I create a large hole in the middle of it, then proceed to eliminate its copies surrounding me. One is cut straight in half, the other has its head lopped off, and yet another is slashed at randomly until it falls apart. There are so many new ways to kill someone with a katana. I've been training for hours, so I go catch a bite of ramen before working on my water jutsu yet again. I concentrate; form the necessary hand signs, then try to blow water out of my mouth. Only a small trickle spews out. I am slowly mastering it, but it takes time.

* * *

"Hokuto." I call the attention of the red-head, who has been focusing on drawing water out of the ground. I gesture at him with my katana. "Come spar with me."

He complies, and we face each other, both our swords glinting dully in the sunlight. He is the first to charge, so I sidestep, and slash at his back, which he whirls around to block. My mind focuses, blocking out everything else, while I am concentrating on breathing slowly and deeply, keeping my mind clear and on alert. It happens slowly, with my katana still swung to the side; he thrusts his forward, and has it at my neck. I smile, from where I am behind Hokuto, and the Kokuei in front of him melts into water. My katana is already placed across his neck, and I have won before he can react.

"Whoa! Wow, Kokuei, you've gotten way better! I'll have to step it up a notch!" he exclaims, and I nod, knowing this is only a small stepping stone to getting better. I have to be able to face off against Emori and win, easily, before I will allow myself even any bit of satisfaction. Emori is watching me, and a smirk suddenly appears on his face. Hokuto, noticing this, growls and challenges, "It was only a lucky chance! I so would've won otherwise!"

"Oh, yeah?" Emori's eyebrows are raised, and they immediately start dueling. I shake my head. They remind me of Sasuke and I back then, except that they are not in as bad situations as we were. Meaning, they aren't orphans or anything, and aren't being driven by hatred or anything like that. They have a normal shinobi or civilian family, normal and caring siblings, and no demon imprisoned inside them. They'll never think of betraying their home village, unlike what Sasuke and I have tried.

"Kokuei! I didn't know you were that good with a katana!" Reika says happily to me, beaming. I don't know why she is happy; shouldn't she be upset that she isn't advancing as quickly as the rest of us? But then again, that's just her personality. She is always happy for others, and doesn't really seem to have the ambition of becoming strong and powerful. I find it strange.

I continue training the rest of the afternoon, and go to bed exhausted.

* * *

"Come on, Kokuei, regulate your chakra. Don't let it go immediately, build it up as best as you can."

Katashi-sensei has already told me this many times, but I can't seem to be able to do it all that well. I'm still working on _Suiton: Kōgeki, _the water spray. I've mastered the water clones, and I have been able to draw water out of the ground, maybe manipulate a bit of the water to put pressure onto something, but that's about it. I still can't do this one jutsu. As I'm about to try again, a voice from behind calls out, "You know, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

I am startled into releasing the chakra, and spin around to face my adversary. "Whoa, whoa, calm down, kid. I've been observing your training for a while, and I noticed…well, you can't seem to get the water jutsu."

I grit my teeth. I can't, of course I can't, but he rubs it in my face all the same. "So what?"

"So what I think is, your affinity isn't water."

"I'm pretty sure anyone with half a brain would've figured that out by now. But I need to master the common jutsu in Village Hidden in the Mist, or else how am I supposed to fight in this type of surrounding?"

"Well, yes, but the ground isn't made of water, is it? And wind blows through the air, doesn't it?"

"Yeah…," I say, still uncertain what he is trying to do.

"So. I have this chakra paper, that if you pour in your own chakra into it, you will be able to find out which affinity you have."

"Wait, wait." Katashi-sensei interrupts him. "Excuse me, Noboru-sensei, but you do know that's for Chuunin, right?"

I look at the stranger. So he was Katashi-sensei's sensei? Then he had to be pretty good. "Why are you letting me use it?"

"Because." His eyes appraise me. "You train hard, and I think you deserve to have this."

I think it through. What could I lose? I nod, so he takes out a thin piece of paper, and I channel my chakra into it. It breaks in half, and flutters to the ground. "Ahh. Wind affinity."

I stare at him, but he has started conversing with Katashi-sensei. After some whispered words—it was clear they were arguing—Katashi-sensei nods, sighs, and says to me, "I, and Noboru-sensei, think you should train under him instead of me. I have four students to train and take care of, which means I am unable to train you or any other student as much as I'd like to. I can see hidden potential inside you, and with a personal coach, you'd excel just that much more. Would you like to take him up on this offer?"

His words were always so formal. I felt like cracking up at the serious expression on his face, given the topic—it was only about which teacher I'd have, for goodness sake!—but sucked my cheeks in and nodded. I'd definitely like that. My training with Jiraiya-sensei wasn't able to continue on, and I regretted that. But if I could still train under someone else personally, I'd be able to get farther than most. I smiled, hoping I didn't look too eager—I wasn't Naruto, after all—and asked, "So…when do we start?"

"Now, if you'd like."

We travelled to a different training ground, and he explained a couple things about having wind affinity. "The basic way to practice with manipulating the wind is to stick a leaf on your forehead, then try to break it in half, using only the wind."

I must've looked shocked, because he laughed and said it wasn't as hard as it sounded. If I had wind affinity, I'd be able to master it soon enough.

Soon enough apparently meant weeks, because by the time two weeks had passed, I still had been unable to split the leaf. It seemed like all the leaves in the whole village would be used up before I could master this, which actually seemed quite possible as the few trees in this village that had broad leaves were, well, few. My kenjutsu had improved greatly, as did my speed—I used weights on my legs, with the weights sealed into scrolls that were wrapped around my torso, arms and legs—although Noboru-sensei didn't know that. One day, he seemed to notice that I was moving slower than usual, and questioned me.

"Something wrong, Kokuei? You're slower than you were yesterday."

"Nah. I just added more weights to the scroll."

He raised his eyebrows at that. "Can I see, please?" I removed one of the scrolls, and after he channeled his chakra into it—if it wasn't programmed to someone's blood, then you could do that—two heavy weights popped out. "Oh."

He examined them for a while, lifting them to find their weight, and such. Then he put them down and stared directly at me. "Are you interested in fuuinjutsu, Kokuei?" He explained to me all the aspects of it, and I realized…frankly, it was a part of my daily life. I had many weapons sealed into scrolls, and I had figured out a couple of pretty cool ways to use scrolls, such as having a teleportation scroll—I had two matching scrolls, that after putting the right symbols on them with my blood so only I could use it, were linked together, and one was left in my apartment while the other I carried in my pouch. The one in the apartment was much larger, and had almost everything I owned inside it. If I decided I needed something else that I had forgotten, I just channeled the correct amount of chakra into the empty scroll to allow things inside it to appear and let me take them out and use them. Of course, there were also necessary hand signs to let me pull out the right items. I demonstrated this whole process to Noboru-sensei, and he looked amazed. Well, obviously it was amazing. It was my own invention!

"I know of a man that is exceptional in fuuinjutsu…would you like to meet him? It would help you so much more if you had two different teachers teaching you different topics in totally different styles. It helps your ability to adapt."

Anything that helped me in the shinobi world, I would take. We immediately headed over to meet this guy, and I found out his name was Takumi. He became a private teacher of mine, although in turn I would have to help him out with manual labor around the house—he was getting pretty old. But what I truly benefited from in the end was finding out he also had wind affinity. My wind-controlling became much easier after that. I learned all kinds of jutsu, and was taught that all kinds of weapons could be made simply from the wind. I had had no idea there were so many jutsu in just one element. With the fuuinjutsu however, I quickly learned everything he knew and more from dusty scrolls he had locked away. His scrolls were given to me, and I read them as fast as I could, eager to learn anything and everything. Learning was the only thing I did nowadays, and I had no idea what I'd do if I weren't doing such a thing as that—training was part of learning.

* * *

"Yah!" the jounin came at me, grunting, his katana sending yellow and orange sparks flying around as it ground against mine. We both jumped back, and circled each other, and I took this time to wrap wind around one of my kunai. Then, as I pretended to come at him again with my katana, I feinted to the left—he realized it before it was too late—and I reached out, my fist aiming for his backside. With a whirl, my opponent came at me with a powerful kick, and I ducked, the wind whistling past my ear as his foot glided ever-so-slowly over my head—and I reached up. My arm straining, I caught his leg, and twirled him, and threw him into the air. Then, taking a leaf out of the Leaf Village's jutsu, I created the necessary hand signs for Dancing Leaf Shadow, and I was suddenly flying underneath the jounin. I grabbed him, binding his arms and legs, and executed a move I had seen Lee do a couple times. Primary Lotus. Ridiculously hard, but I could definitely defeat a formidable opponent easily this way. We spun, and I focused on the point of ground where his head would connect with the hard dirt. My eyes teared, but I forced my muscles to keep them open, and finally—

No. I suddenly released him, my arms loosening and allowing him to fall freely for a moment, while replacing myself with a clone and jumping away, then closing my eyes and touching the ground. There. Behind me. Even as the clones behind me burst into water, I was already on the move towards his hiding location. I substituted with a piece of log behind him, and as a kunai flew at the piece of wood, a kunai appeared at his neck. He froze, but I realized he had a water clone behind me with a kunai aimed at my lower back. His mistake. I appeared, again, in front of him, this time with my katana unsheathed and pointed at his neck while the clone behind him whipped around to stab his clone, both of them simultaneously melting into water as they stabbed each other.

"Alright, you win," he grumbled. I nodded at him as I replaced my katana, both of us bowing our heads in respect before heading towards our respective destinations.

A year had passed. Altogether, I had stayed in Village of the Mist for two years. I could defeat a jounin now, what with all the techniques and skills I had gained in the past one and half years. My outfit changed along with my growth; I was five foot seven now, just four inches shorter than Kakashi. Assuming he didn't grow any taller, which I doubt he would have—why was I thinking about him anyway?—I banished him from my mind. Obviously the orange jumpsuit was gone; I had dumped that thing in Konoha. My outfit was all black; baggy pants tightened at the end of the pant legs, and along with the mesh shirt worn underneath everything, I had a tight black shirt tucked inside the pants, with a black vest—much like the Konoha shinobi vest—with pockets and pouches all on the clothing itself, not attached separately. I carried many scrolls in the thigh pouch, allowing me to pull weapons of all kind from it, much like Tenten—the scrolls would only react to my blood, causing a backlash to any foreign blood that landed on it, and the objects pulled out were stored in a different scroll. With my recently bought katana sheathed on my back, the only thing that remained the same between Kokuei and Naruto was the blond hair and blue eyes, and the whisker marks that had faded much more. They were still there, of course, but not as obvious.

As I strolled quietly along the edge of the sea, I contemplated my daily life. I had pushed harder than I ever had before, training at least six hours a day—although those were my rest days. I had a specific schedule, too. Monday and Tuesday would be training with Noboru-sensei, trying to master a couple genjutsu—I was able to dispel and/or avoid them easily, but I realized I still needed to know them in order to be a full-rounded shinobi. Wednesdays and Thursdays would be filled with learning and mastering new wind techniques and other ninjutsu from Takumi-sensei, Friday and Saturday I still trained with Katashi-sensei, as he was _very _talented in kenjutsu. On those days if Team 9 was there, I would sometimes spar with Emori, while Hokuto and Reika watched. I usually won, but Emori had also pushed himself to try and catch up with me, which he was doing well in—but he spent too much time messing around with Hokuto and Reika, going out to eat with them and then just spending the rest of the evening watching stars. If he really wanted to beat me, then that would have to be taken out of his schedule. I very rarely interacted with my team nowadays, and although I would still go on missions with them, that was pretty much it. But anyway, on my rest day, Sunday, I'd study fuuinjutsu even more, going to the resource building for ninjas and going through every single fuuinjutsu book. I'd gotten about three quarters of the way through. Remembering that the Yondaime Hokage was rumored to have special kunai with some special seal of his attached to them, and when thrown, would somehow summon him himself to wherever it was thrown, I smiled. I wanted to do that.

"Hey! Kokuei! What're you doing? I never thought I'd see you lazing around!" Reika shouted happily from within the crowd, and I managed a small smile at her, before continuing on my path. This had been recommended to me from Takumi-sensei—meditating and just thinking about my surroundings, remaining calm and focused. Noboru-sensei had also told me to do this, and he'd sometimes have us go hours on end just sitting there with one leg folded over the other and our hands, palms-up, on our knees, closing our eyes and telling me to let my mind go blank. It was supposed to be these five certain points, all pointing upward toward the sky and connecting the sky with ground. I was a strong, stable tree, letting the earth's energy run through me, and allowing the sky's winds to flow into the ground, first through the point on my head and then whooshing through the rest of my body, energy flowing. Palms, the bottom of my feet, and the top of my head were those five points.

They caught up to me, and we all strolled together, until Hokuto whined that it was getting boring. Reika hesitantly agreed, too, and even Emori nodded. So unfortunately we had to go get dinner together. It was…fun, you could say. But with all of them laughing about something that had happened during their training, I was left out of the conversation before long. I excused myself to go to the bathroom, and after paying for all of us at the front desk—they had insisted they'd pay, but it was the least I could after they tried to include me in their plans—I slipped out a side door, breathing in the salty air. I found I liked living near the ocean. The stars were out, and I remembered those times in Konoha when the entire rookie 9 would meet up on the grassy hill that was best for star-watching and just…waste a couple hours relaxing together. I missed those times, but then I had to remind myself, again, that I was only a waste of space to them. Or, not necessarily useless, but a danger to all the citizens and even some shinobi. They didn't want me. I ducked my head down, and resumed my stroll along the ocean beach.

* * *

**Kind of a filler chapter there. But it's longer than the last one at least…**

**And come on people, review! I love reviews, even if they don't have constructive criticism. PLEASE REVIEW. Thanks!**

**~paracuties**

***I hope that strange knife-thingy is pointing at the review button. What do you think it looks like…?***

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	3. Chapter 3

**Here's chapter three. Look to chapter two for the disclaimer. Not sure about this chapter…**

The next day, I slept in. My first time sleeping in after 18 months of waking up early to train. It felt so strange, yet very comforting. But at least it was a Sunday, and I wouldn't be punished with 100 laps around a pond for being late…by about two seconds. After eating lunch, I went to wander outside. I still kept my eyes sharp, so I noticed the Leaf shinobi before they noticed me. I panicked, wondering what they were doing there, but then remembered sensei's—really, I don't remember which one, just one of them—words, and cleared my mind, focusing on the situation objectively. So I remained calm, and casually walked back to my apartment, intentionally leaving my muscles and shoulders relaxed. Once inside, I rummaged through all my belongings, trying to find something to disguise myself with. In case they were looking for me, I had to be unrecognizable. A black bandanna could cover my hair, I thought as I pulled it out and examined it. Much like what Morino Ibiki, the Chuunin first exam proctor had done to cover all the scars on his scalp.

Then, I wondered about my face. The whisker marks had to be hidden, that was for sure. How? Kakashi's face flashed through my mind, unbidden, and I suddenly remembered a time where Sakura, Sasuke and I had desperately wanted to see Kakashi's face. We had gone through quite a few of those ridiculous plans, continuously trying to get Kakashi to take off his mask. I had been so oblivious then, believing they were my friends and that I could trust them.

Gritting my teeth, I angrily threw a kunai across the room, where it stuck itself into the wall and created cobweb-thin cracks spiraling around the center. "Whoops," I muttered.

But I shook my head. I had remembered Kakashi's face for a reason. I forced down my emotions, and forced myself to think logically, like Takumi-sensei and Noboru-sensei—yes, I think it was those two—had trained me to do. Kakashi-sensei…we had wanted to see what he really looked like—we had never seen his true facial features. _Exactly. _With one of those masks, it could conceal my mouth, nose, and especially those pesky whisker marks. I set out onto the busy streets again, with the scarf wrapped around my hair. Heading across the street towards the weaponry store facing my apartment complex, I looked both ways, partly for the traffic, and partly to make sure the genin team hadn't suspected me yet.

Inside, I brushed past the weapons section—which was pretty much the majority of the store, considering it was a _weaponry _store, and went to the section reserved for shinobi only.

After they realized I was a shinobi, judging by my hitai-ate with the typical "water" symbol carved into the metal, the storekeepers allowed me into the room, and then there was the array of gas masks, chakra paper, paper bombs, and—ah, there were the masks. Striding toward them purposefully, I quickly looked through them until I had found the right size and color—seriously, who would even want or need a yellow mask?—and pulled it over my head. Adjusting it a little bit so it fit around my neck and face comfortably, I looked at the small mirror tacked on the wall, and smiled. It covered my whisker marks perfectly, and I couldn't even tell I was smiling. After buying seven of them, I left the store, wearing one of my newly-bought masks. Then, I ran into the Leaf shinobi.

Literally. Well, technically, it was their fault. I _was_ heading the opposite direction of the crowd, as everybody was going home to eat lunch before heading back to school or work, and I was heading towards the working area, which happened to be placed next to the training grounds. But. They were the ones racing around frantically, pushing everybody around and jostling young ones, overall ruining peoples' good days. They toppled over me, and I realized they were only genin. Their jounin leader was nowhere to be seen.

After getting up again and trying to walk off, annoyed, I was confronted by one of the genin.

"Hey!" The girl shoved her way in front of me, and I rocked back onto my heels, wondering if I'd get in trouble if I harmed her in any way, such as breaking one of those stick arms and then tossing her into the sea. Maybe. But then again, maybe not.

Before I could contemplate this any further, one of the boys—did all teams consist of two boys, one girl and their jounin leader in Konoha?—also jumped in front of me, and started blabbing.

"Hey, dude, sorry 'bout knockin' you over like that, but we're on a mission looking for a guy who left the Leaf village a long time ago. He's got blond hair, blue eyes, and whisker marks on his cheeks. And he wears an ugly orange jumpsuit thing…have you seen him? He's called Uzumaki Naruto, by the way. 'Cause everybody's been searchin' all of Fire country, only recently we found out from a ship guy that about two years ago, the guy borrowed a boat and travelled to Water Country. For some reason, he was called a demon, although our sensei straightened the ship guy out after he said that. Anyway, nobody never thought he'd go that way! 'Cause…"

The boy kept on blabbing about the premise of their mission, and I tuned him out in favor of examining the rest of their teammates. The blond girl looked exasperated, and the other carrot-topped boy completely ignored the blabbing boy. Carrot-top was examining me in turn. Suddenly, he stuck out his hand and said, "Hi. Ignore Bolei. I'm Makoto, and the girl's Emi. As Bolei was saying, have you seen the person that fits the description he gave?"

I shook my head. "No. And I'm Kokuei."

He nodded, but before he could reply, a hand suddenly appeared on his and Bolei's shoulders. "Now, Bolei, haven't I already told you not to go blabbing about your mission to everybody?!"

The man standing there…was Iruka. What? He…he was a jounin? My feelings were jumbled, but confusion and anxiety were the most prominent among them. What if Iruka recognized me? And why wasn't Iruka teaching at the Academy anymore? But of course, everybody's lives could go on without me. I wasn't thinking.

Iruka smiled at me apologetically, and I was relieved and…a little disappointed he hadn't recognized—no, I wasn't going to say that. I hadn't been about to end that sentence with "me". I was only thinking…something else. Something entirely unrelated. I nodded at him, then continued on my way to the training grounds.

* * *

Later on, I found out it was Reika and Hokuto who had told the Leaf shinobi where I had gone. Iruka's group had been asking just about any ninja they had come upon, and that was why they had been barreling down the road trying to look for Naruto. They were slightly thrown off by my new look, but recovered and decided to be angry with me that I hadn't told them I had come from Konoha, and of course, the fact that I was a missing-nin. Emori was also watching me, and I found myself, again, faced by accusations from "friends". I didn't want to explain to them, knowing they'd never understand, and left, stopping by Takumi-sensei's house and taking a couple of important scrolls I could learn more wind jutsu from—after getting his permission, of course, on the excuse that I was impatient and wishing to learn more—and headed to my apartment, gathering up my belongings. Which pretty much only consisted of that big scroll I had stored everything inside, actually. I strapped that onto my back, and yet again, henged into a random merchant travelling someplace else, and left out the front entrance. Once I was far away, I borrowed a boat, and the boat expert sailed me to Lightning Country.

* * *

"Hello," I nodded to the front entrance guards of Kumogakure, Village Hidden in the Clouds. It wasn't hard to henge into the same merchant that had left Kirigakure, Village Hidden in the Mist. No one ever seemed to suspect me. They took my picture, had me sign in as Suzuki Ichiro, and let me be. My scroll had turned into a cart, and wild pigs had turned into horses. My "horses" neighed and stomped around, and I cracked the whip behind them, forcing them to run inside the village. After making sure nobody was watching me, I henged everything back, and let the pigs escape into the nearby forest. I wouldn't make the mistake of creating an identity that would just cause me trouble in the end; I had to erase all evidence of my being a marketer of some sort.

I still had quite a few ryo left, and bought a couple sticks of teriyaki strips stuck on a kabob, munching slowly and savoring the exotic taste. They didn't have these in Water Country, which was unfortunate. Then, I proceeded to search around for the training grounds, where I could maybe try and steal a couple of jutsu. I only stayed here for two months, because after trading all the goods I had from Water Country, I had no other means of earning money, as I was not a citizen. So I moved again. Stealing jutsu here, trading goods there, and overall just trying to make sure I was never caught.

In Wind Country, in Sunagakure, I had to avoid Gaara and his siblings as best as I could, while also learning as many wind jutsu too. It helped so much more, seeing all the different variety and I wondered if I could acquire a fan, like Temari. But unfortunately, this time, I was caught. I was on the edge of the Village Hidden in the Sand, when I felt many presences surrounding me. I pretended I hadn't noticed, then switched myself out with a shadow clone quickly and quietly, hiding my presence with ninjutsu and then getting out of there as fast as I could. They didn't seem to notice, and I hastened to put everything in my large scroll and stuffing a couple of goods from Wind Country in there before leaving my apartment and trying to escape. I was then suddenly cornered in an alley, with both ends blocked by a couple of Leaf shinobi and other Leaf shinobi on the roofs. How had they found me out?! I always wore my mask and the scarf; were my eyes that big of a dead giveaway? There were plenty of other people with blue eyes, even if they were usually lighter than mine.

"Uzumaki Naruto, we are going to take you back to Konoha because the Hokage has ordered us to. Otherwise, you'd be dead right now."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? So full of yourselves, aren't you, Leaf shinobi?"

They rushed me, and I jumped up, fighting my way through the Leaf shinobi quickly, my katana slicing through their soft skin with blood spraying in an arc behind it and incapacitating them so they couldn't come after me. I proceeded to jump from the rooftops, and then jumped into the crowd and created a henge. I was a random old merchant, hobbling my way to the front entrance, and they seemed surprised that they had lost me so easily. Ha. They should know I had experience with _henge. _But yet again I was cornered when crossing the border from Wind Country into Fire Country. And this time, they had larger numbers. I couldn't defeat all of them—there were 20 jounin and chuunin, and I was sure more were hidden in the trees. I ducked and whirled through them, drawing water from the moist ground and catching a couple jounin into a sphere.

"I'll crush them if you come any closer," I warned, although I hadn't killed anybody before, and I wasn't planning to anytime soon. I wasn't a killer, and the thought of ending someone's life just like that, with a flick of kunai—or with a squeeze of my hand—well…was scary. I didn't know if I could bring myself to do it.

They hesitated, and minutes ticked by with no movement on either side—until one of them, a chuunin, came rushing at me. My hand impulsively squeezed together, causing the water pressure to suddenly rise and crush most of the men inside, their bodies exploding with blood and tissue and bone. Watching this happen because all I had done was make my hand into a fist, I wanted to throw up, punch myself, or do _something_ to get rid of the horrible scarring image. The chuunin that had rushed at me cried out, immediately changing direction and heading toward the group of mangled men, crying out, "Sensei!"

There were also other cries of disbelief and fear among some of them, but before they could charge at me and try to get revenge on their dead or injured friends, a tornado suddenly appeared between them and me, and an Akatsuki cloak, along with the man wearing it, appeared. He shifted into a defensive stance, causing some of the gold-lined red clouds to wobble around on the dusty dark cloak.

"Naruto. Go. I will handle this."

I wanted to protest, but swallowed down the words and used _shunshin_ to get away. I had traveled about 50 km, and rested for a moment, letting my heartbeat slow down, while still staying on guard. For all I knew, they could be having all the shinobi stationed near the border, watching and waiting for me. My heart pounded sluggishly in my ears, and the nauseous feeling wouldn't go away. My hands were shaking even as my knuckles turned white from my hands gripping the branch I was perched on so hard, and I couldn't get that image out of my head, of the stricken looks on some of the jounin, and that bright burst of blood—the tornado appeared again.

It was Itachi. "Itachi?!" I paused, unsure what to say or do.

"Hello, Naruto," he said, as if we were just randomly meeting up someplace and having tea.

"What…"

Seeing the probably distant and revolted look I had on my face, he tilted his head and asked, "First kills?"

I nodded, swallowing, trying to keep the contents of my stomach inside and fisting my hand, scratching it on the rough bark of the tree.

He sighed. "Although it's always going to be a little difficult, you'll get used to it. Eventually. It gets numbing after a while."

I stared at him. Really, why wasn't he attacking me? He noticed my look, and explained, "Right now, since I'm not travelling with Kisame, the capturing of the nine-tailed demon fox will be put on hold, Naruto. And why have you left the village, after saving Sasuke? Thank you for that, by the way."

I shook my head. "It's actually Kamikaze Kokuei, now. I left the village for a number of reasons. But what are you doing here? And what are you doing saving me, when I thought Akatsuki was trying to capture all the tailed demons?"

I had done my research, travelling through the red light districts and stealing documents from different places, finding information about the jinchuuriki—it, to say the least, surprised me—I had no idea I wasn't the only one, besides Gaara—and finding out that Akatsuki had pursued them and captured some of them. Some other interesting news I had found from Leaf Village—I had to steal something from them, and stealing important files right from under Tsunade's nose was pretty funny. They didn't check on them much, so by the time they could even go through those Very Important documents again, I had already placed them back.

Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime, had been married to Uzumaki Kushina, a red-haired girl from the now abandoned and destroyed Uzushiogakure, a small shinobi village that used to occupy Land of the Waves. They had had a son, who was immediately orphaned when they died by sacrificing themselves for the Leaf village during the Kyuubi attack. Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. The revelation had surprised me, to say the least, and I had been terribly distracted and angry until a couple shinobi from Kirigakure had come after me, jolting me back to reality. I had pushed it to the back of my mind until now.

He raised his eyebrows. "Hmm…well, to answer your first question, I had found out you had left your village, and I have been looking for you—you can be pretty slippery when you want to be."

He coughed, then continued. "There is a group…a new group that has surfaced. An organization, if you will. It has started doing activities that even the Akatsuki would like to try and prevent from happening."

"Like what?"

"I'm getting to that. Although you have been rapidly getting better, if I am to judge your performance with the shinobi recently, it is not good enough if you want to thwart their plans. Others will go after you if Leaf fails to do so.

"This means…well, I have an acquaintance. He and his group will meet every six months in Grass Country, and the next meeting will be in about two weeks. If you want to defeat them, be there. Otherwise, you will be cut down sooner or later."

Immediately after that little monologue, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. "Argh!" I punched the bark in frustration, wishing I could've milked more information from him before he left. Why was Itachi helping me? And even if there was such a group that was doing who-knows-what, well…what exactly _were _they doing to cause Itachi come and warn me, not even capturing me?! What was up with that guy, anyway?!

A rustling of leaves and shouts from nearby warned me the Leaf shinobi were catching up again. I had to leave.

* * *

I wandered around, unsure where exactly the meeting was. Out here in Kusagakure, Village Hidden in the Grass, I could see many rivers and forests of bamboo lining the edge of the village, altogether giving it a very peaceful look. The people were pretty much the opposite of that, however. They drove pretty hard bargains on dumplings, as far as I knew.

The couple of people that I had…killed two weeks ago were still lingering in my mind. I didn't even have any idea how many of them had died by my hand, and I was afraid that this would become such a common occurrence—what if I ended up altogether losing count of how many people's blood stained my hands just because of the sheer number of people I slaughtered? It terrified me. I didn't want to think about itIdidn'twanttoIdidn'twanttoIdidn'twantto—a hand clapped down on my shoulder.

I whirled around immediately, drawing out a kunai and pressing it against their throat with my other arm wrapped around their neck from behind. All of this happened in less than a second, but the man only laughed and said, "Calm down, Naruto. Or is it Kokuei? I am S, the leader of the organization Itachi has told you about."

He laughed again at my surprised expression. "Don't look like much, do I? Come, I will bring you to our meeting."

He lead me to a small, burbling stream of water, the water so clear I could see the multi-colored rocks settled down at the bottom of it. He walked a little ways up the river, studying the ground until crouching and putting his hand in the soft grass. What was he doing? He stood up again, then held up his hands and created a quick hand sign, muttering something I couldn't hear. The water suddenly started whooshing around, and a hole appeared in it. A literal hole, kind of like a tunnel with a dead end, appeared in the river, and the piece of ground below the hole started crumbling into dust. I blinked, and then he was suddenly shoving me inside, following soon after. I stumbled out of the way, and he landed next to me, the ground powdery from the dust that had fallen in earlier. The hole in the roof closed up again, and I could hear the water rushing back into place.

"Who's the kid?" a woman dressed in black with strange red bandages on her forearms and calves crossed her arms and frowned at me. Now that I noticed though, everybody in the room had the same outfit; besides the clothes being fitted for the correct gender and size, they were the exact same. Even S, actually. He closed the door, activated the privacy seals again, then announced, "Hey, everybody, this is Uzumaki Naruto!"

I growled at him. "I already told you, it's Kamikaze Kokuei."

They laughed. "Hey, show some respect to him, kid. He's the leader, and if you want to join, then you better behave yourself."

A tall, lean man smirked at me, his light orange hair flopping into his honey eyes. I counted them. There were seven of them total, including S. S had brown eyes and a shock of red hair, which was a strange combination. There was that man that had lectured me on behaving myself—I scowled at him—and that woman that had asked who I was when we first entered. She had light blue eyes and silver hair, and standing next to her was another woman with blonde hair and green eyes. A man with dark eyes and purple hair stood in a corner, keeping to himself, and as I studied his stance and figure, I could tell he was a swordsman, judging first by the long katana sheath strapped on his hip, and then on the way he kept his gloved hand on the handle of his katana. Another two men stood next to each other, chattering away, and were total opposites. One had silver eyes and black hair, while the other had dark eyes and silver hair. Strange.

S cleared his throat, and everybody turned their full attention on us for the first time since we had entered. "Well anyway, since I already introduced him, I'm going to introduce all of you. And of course, _please _be polite."

They chuckled in that way that only people who know each other very well can do, then waited for their turn to be introduced. S pointed to the man with light orange hair, that man that I was annoyed at the second I set my eyes on him. "This is Kazuya, and although his name means peace, he is definitely the opposite of that."

Kazuya smirked evilly, if that was even possible.

He pointed at the man in the corner fingering his katana. "That's Naoki, and the two women are Nanami and Amaya, respectively." He pointed at the silver-haired woman, then at the blonde. "They've been friends since they were kids."

S gestured at the two opposites. "And of course, there's Susumu and Shou. They came together, and we still don't know which is which. We usually just refer to them as 'Susumu and Shou.'"

I studied them all. They were at least twenty five years old, if not older. He clapped his hands. "Well, now that we all know each other, let's get to business."

"Wait, wait." I interrupted him, surprised and suspicious. "You just invite me into your little group, and don't even check if I'm the real person? You just randomly let me join, and I haven't even given you my decision yet."

Amaya smiled at me, her green eyes twinkling. "Kid, we already know all about you. At least, a lot. We got a lot of our info from Itachi—including the fact that he told you if you wanted to 'defeat the threat', you'd have to come to our meeting."

I was shocked. "Itachi already came here?! Urgh, why can't I ever catch him on time?!"

"And we have a seal on this room that strips you of any illusions or the like. So, genjutsu couldn't work in here, and a henge wouldn't work either," Kazuya added.

"And I can't ever let you find me, or else that would mean Akatsuki knows I'm associating with this group—after all, a bunch of S-ranked ninja would _have _to have better tracking skills than you."

I turned. There was Itachi, landing on the ground with Naoki not far behind. I hadn't even noticed the man slip out of the room, but there he was, coming back in. They yet again had to close up the hole letting in daylight and set up privacy seals, and the dim yellow lighting made Itachi appear pale and sickly as he surveyed the room.

"Itachi, I have some questions for you. Why—"

"Not now, Naruto," he murmured and focused on S. "S, I have some new information."

He looked around. "Everybody better pay attention, because this affects all of us."

We all shuffled in a little closer. "Akatsuki has found out that the new group, called Mayonaka—"

I rolled my eyes. Midnight? Seriously? Why did all these organizations of powerful shinobi have to be named after times of day?—as Akatsuki meant dawn, and Akai Yūgure, the name of this organization, meant red dusk.

"—will be attacking Fire Country first. It could happen anytime, but they will be catching them off guard, and Fire Country, once defeated, will be a big advantage for them in insolating all the rest of the villages. Akatsuki doesn't want this, because they only want the shinobi villages destroyed, not the civilians too—they want to rule the five elemental countries someday, as bizarre as that sounds. However, I'm calling upon you guys to help too, because Akatsuki doesn't have enough numbers. What we have in skill, Mayonaka has in numbers, _and _skills."

"Where are they all coming from?" I demanded, wondering how in the world apparently _tons _of people could suddenly, out of the blue, form an organization so organized and immediately working.

Itachi gave me a look. "That's what we'd like to know, and so it'll be up to our spies, and maybe you, to figure that out.

"Now, Naruto, I will be leaving, so the rest will be explained to you by S-sama and the others." He exited with a slight whooshing sound, his Akatsuki cloak billowing out behind him as he jumped straight up and out of the reopened hole in the ceiling.

I faced the rest of them, unsure of what I was supposed to say to them.

"N—Kokuei, all of us will be training you at some point or another. We all specialize in different areas, such as ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu, medical techniques, or fuuinjutsu—actually, none of us are all that great in fuuinjutsu, but we'll help you if you're interested in it. I myself specialize in ninjutsu and taijutsu, although we are all sufficient enough in all categories. Now, come on, we'll be leaving."

The group dispersed, and I was left staring at them, confused. What had I gotten myself into?

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**Ugh, this chapter seems kind of stupid. I don't know. You guys decide if it is or not. Although—that doesn't mean you can just flat out say it's stupid in any potential reviews…**

**Thanks to: Orangeblossom Asakura, chuck2012, BlackRose803, bbp2013nbof, and BitchSwerveltsRoselie for reviewing! Really appreciated that, you guys. (You're probably going to get tired of hearing *seeing* me saying that in PMs and in these ANs.)**

**Gotta get going on my AcDec homework now. Review, fanfiction readers!**


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